Fasig-Tipton boosts Saratoga yearling catalog

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fasig-Tipton has reversed the trend toward smaller yearling sale catalogs by plumping up its New York-bred preferred auction with almost 23 percent more horses this year.

The Kentucky-based auction house announced Wednesday it has cataloged 216 yearlings, 40 more than last year, for the New York-bred sale, which will take place Aug. 13-14 at Fasig-Tipton’s Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The sale also will feature 14 new consignors, led by the sale’s largest consignment from Vinery Sales, agent. Vinery launched its New York operations earlier this year when it opened a division at Empire Stud in Hudson, N.Y., and then took over the operation of Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag.

Fasig-Tipton’s expanded New York-bred catalog comes several months before the long-awaited debut of Aqueduct’s slot-machine casino. The casino’s developer, Genting New York, plans to open its operation in September or October, with about 2,500 of an eventual 5,000 machines expected to open. Seven percent of slots revenue will go to the New York Racing Association, and 1.5 percent will go to breeders.

“New York breeders have worked patiently and diligently to support the efforts which have brought about sweeping changes to the revenue stream available for racing in New York state and to its local Thoroughbred industry,” Fasig-Tipton’s president, Boyd Browning, said in announcing the preferred sale’s catalog numbers. “The quality and numbers in this year’s catalog us a direct reflection of the confidence breeders have in the positive direction the New York-bred program will now move.”